In high school, my world revolved around the National FFA Organization. Correction: my life still still revolves around FFA. I bleed National Blue and Corn Gold and I’m always looking for an excuse to put on my blue corduroy jacket and panty hose. I found an excuse on May 8th when my old high school chapter invited me to their annual awards banquet. Each year, Central Hardin FFA puts on a show complete with the best barbecue and music to celebrate the accomplishments of its members. The majority of the banquet is spent reading off the names of students and the contests they competed in throughout the year, but the moment to remember from each banquet comes at the end when the senior officers take off their jackets for the last time. This past week, I watched my old peers clinging to each other as “Five More Minutes” by Scotty McCreery played. One by one, they walked across the stage to a coat rack and hung up their jackets. By the end of the song, the coat rack was full of blue jackets and the seniors stood at the other side of the stage, crying and holding onto each other as they realized that their FFA career was over.

Every year, it’s the same story but a different song playing in the background. At my senior banquet, I stood with my sobbing friends as “Wherever I Go” by Miley Cyrus played. What makes this moment so emotional is the realization of change. No matter what someone’s interests are, there is a period of reluctance when a chapter in their life comes to an end. Football players sniffle quietly as they hand in their equipment after their last game. Mothers and fathers clutch tissues as a child stands at the altar on their wedding day. “Everything is about to change, We face tomorrow as so we say goodbye to yesterday, A chapter ending…” These words echo in my heart as I look back to my time as a Central Hardin FFA member. Change for anyone is terrifying. We become comfortable with our current condition and fall into a steady, safe rhythm, but nothing is forever.

If life has taught me anything it is that everything changes. Students graduate, relationships end, and people die. As much as we want things to remain the same, the fact of life is that change creates who we are as people. In her song, Miley Cyrus goes on to say that “I'm moving on, letting go, holding on to tomorrow. I've always got the memories while I'm finding out who I'm gonna be,” reflecting how the change we face morphs our reality. My FFA friends and I had a great four years together of success and growth while involved as members, but the true test came after our jackets were hung up for the last time. We had to discover who each of us were beyond FFA. My old secretary found her place as a dance major at Western Kentucky University, where she developed a love for modern dance. My old sentinel is killing it as a pre-law major and Kappa Delta sister at Northern Kentucky University. And me? Well, I discovered that my heart belonged to the National FFA Organization. I changed my major to Agriculture Education and plan to spend my life encouraging students as an FFA Advisor. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Change prompts us to ask who we really are and why we do things. The end of one chapter brings the beginning of another, but one thing should always stay the same: who you are. Our lives are one big story, and the farther it goes along, the more developed our character becomes. Adversity and change tests who we are and shapes us. For me, losing FFA made me search deep into my heart to find out who I was. I’m not an FFA member. I’m not a University of Louisville Cardinal. I’m not a yellow belt in judo. These are all things that I have loved and accomplished, but they do not define who I am. Thousands of people can say the same things about themselves. When I ask, “Who am I?” I take a deeper look. So no matter the change in my reality, I am a thoughtful and kind person. I am a friend who will drop everything to lend a hand. I am a dog lover and a family person. I am quiet until you get to know me. I am passionate and determined. I am Mattie Mink and that will never change. When facing change, look at yourself and ask who you are at the core, not what is going on around you. So who are you?